Governing Bodies
ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE TO VOTE NEXT WEEK ON RESTART
Premier League clubs will have to wait till after next Thursday to vote at a meeting how best to press ahead with their intention to resume the season on June 8, according to The Times of London.
The 20 clubs had discussed plans in a conference call yesterday, but the practicalities of how to even begin training will be the first obstacle they have to overcome with “Project Restart”.
They reconfirmed their commitment to finish the season, subject to coronavirus restrictions being lifted in Britain despite fears expressed by players.
“The league and clubs are considering the first tentative moves forward and will only return to training and playing with government guidance, under expert medical advice and after consultation with players and managers,” the Premier League said in a statement.
The league is hoping the UK government, which is due to review the curbs on Thursday, will give the go-ahead to a return to training, albeit with strict medical guidelines in place.
Getting players back on the training field would clear the way to an eventual resumption of the season in early June with games expected to be held behind closed doors, possibly at neutral venues.
Although European football’s governing body UEFA has set a deadline of May 25 for leagues to inform it of their plans to resume action – in order to help with the schedule for the remaining Champions League and Europa League matches – the Premier League has plenty of time to complete its fixtures.
No top-flight matches in England have taken place since March 9.
UEFA has indicated it is willing to wait until late August to complete the continental club competitions and that gives the Premier League the whole summer to work with.
“Patience is the key here and patience will lead to the correct decision, there simply is no rush where we stand right now,” one club official told Reuters.
Leagues in France and the Netherlands have been cancelled for this season, but there appears to be little pressure on the Premier League to follow suit.
Oliver Dowden, the UK government’s Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, has said he has been working with the league with the aim of getting games back on as soon as possible.
He tweeted yesterday after a separate meeting with leading medical experts: “We just kicked off 1st of many detailed meetings to plan for a safe return of elite sport behind closed doors when, and only when, it is safe to do so on the basis of expert medical advice. Lots to consider, but today we step up planning.”
Some clubs, including London rivals Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, have opened their training grounds, but the pitches are being used only for individual work and they are not back in normal practice sessions.
The league has been taking advice from club medical teams on how training could be conducted in a safe manner, with the aim of finding a protocol for clubs to agree upon.
The Daily Mirror published parts of a seven-page document ,which showed some of the plans being considered.
Those proposals include privately funded testing for players, coaches and backroom staff two to three times a week before the return to group training and widespread disinfection of training equipment and facilities after each session.
The report also said players would wear face masks and there would be a ban on spitting.
The plans are based on players not using inside facilities other than to visit the toilet and a phased return with players initially working in small groups.
Sixteen teams in the league have nine rounds remaining, while four have 10 rounds still to play.
Reuters, AFP
Governing Bodies
Nigeria becoming an epicentre of global badminton as Francis Orbih enters the Badminton World Federation Council
Laurels on the courts and now glory in the boardroom sums up the mark that badminton is making in Nigeria.
The President, Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN), Francis Orbih, has been elected as a council member of the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
The election took place during the BWF Annual General Meeting on Saturday in Xiamen, China.
Orbih emerged victorious over top contenders from other African countries.
He will join Cameroon’s Odette Assembe Engoulou on the council, while Chipo Zumburani (Zimbabwe) and Hadia ElSaid (Egypt) missed out.
An elated Orbih expressed his gratitude to fellow badminton presidents across the globe for their trust and support.
He said, “I am deeply honoured by the trust placed in me by my peers across the badminton world.
“I look forward to quality representation, driving development initiatives, and strengthening badminton’s global reach over the next four years.”
Orbih also acknowledged the support of the Federal Government of Nigeria, particularly the National Sports Commission (NSC), which he said played a significant role in his successful bid.
“The Chairman and the Director General of the NSC monitored the entire process. I’m grateful for their involvement and confident Nigeria will benefit from this,” he stated.
He further appreciated the BFN board members and the Nigerian badminton community for their prayers and continued belief in his leadership.
“From the day I declared my intentions, the board members of BFN have been supportive, and I promise not to disappoint them,” Orbih concluded.
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A former member of the FIFA Council, Mamoutou Toure, has been released from jail in Mali after almost two years in detention for alleged corruption, Malian media reports said on Wednesday.
Toure, president of the Malian Football Federation since 2019, was released after 622 days in prison on Tuesday.
He served on the FIFA Council, world football’s all-powerful decision-making body, for four years until last month when he lost his seat after failing to contest new elections.
The 67-year-old was arrested in August 2023 on allegations of embezzling $28 million of public funds but was granted a provisional release order by the Malian courts, reports said.
He was accused of misconduct during his time as the National Assembly’s financial and administrative director from 2013-2019.
Toure denied all charges and, during his time in jail, was last August re-elected as Malian Football Federation president for a second consecutive term, with his supporters claiming he was a victim of a conspiracy fuelled by detractors.
While in jail, he received a letter of support from FIFA president Gianni Infantino. However, as of last month, Toure is no longer a member of the FIFA Council or the Confederation of African Football’s executive committee.
-Reuters
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The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has denied reports of an outstanding debt to former captain Christian Chukwu and has challenged anyone with verifiable documents to prove otherwise.
Chukwu, a former national team captain and chief coach, died last Saturday.
The Nigeria Football Federation decried statements in a section of social media that the football-ruling body was indebted to the deceased.
Reacting to one statement on social media that claimed NFF owed the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations-winning team captain the sum of $128,000, NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, said: “There is no record in the NFF of any outstanding indebtedness to ‘Chairman’ Christian Chukwu.
“During the first term of the Board headed by Amaju Pinnick, a committee was set up to diligently peruse the papers of coaches who were being owed, even from previous NFF administrations.
“That committee was given the clear mandate to verify all debts and ensure that the coaches being owed were paid immediately. I am aware that the ‘Chairman’ was in the employ of the NFF between 2002 and 2005, before he was relieved of the post following the 1-1 draw with Angola in a FIFA World Cup qualifying match in Kano in August 2005. There is certainly no record of indebtedness to him in the NFF.”
Sanusi challenged anyone with genuine and verifiable documents of NFF indebtedness to any coach, who has worked with any of the National Teams over the past two decades, to come forward and tender those documents.
“As a credible organization that is very much alive to its responsibilities, if we are confronted with any genuine document of indebtedness to any coach, we will offset the debt immediately.”
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The league title will be icing on Soname’s birthday cake on Sunday
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